Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, has reportedly made billions of dollars from advertising related to fraud and banned goods, according to internal company documents seen by Reuters.
The documents show that Meta estimated that about 10% of its revenue in 2024, roughly $16 billion, came from fraudulent and illegal advertising, including fraudulent e-commerce offers, fake investment schemes and the sale of prohibited medical products. The company also estimated that users encountered about 15 billion fraudulent ads on its platforms every day.
Meta’s internal systems flagged many of these ads as “high risk,” but the company only bans advertisers when it’s 95% certain they’re committing fraud. For suspected but unconfirmed fraudsters, Meta reportedly charges higher ad rates as a “penalty” that allows them to continue to generate revenue.
Meta’s answer
In a statement to Reuters, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the documents “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and fraud.” He added that the internal estimate of 10.1% of fraud revenue in 2024 was “crude and over-inclusive” and that later estimates showed the real figure was lower.
Stone went on to say, “We actively fight fraud and scams because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it, and we don’t want it either.”
It also claimed that in the last 18 months, the number of user reports of fraudulent ads has dropped by 58%, and that Meta has removed more than 134 million fraudulent ads in 2025 alone.
Regulators around the world are on alert
The revelations come as regulators in the US and UK investigate Meta’s role in online fraud. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is reportedly investigating Meta for advertising financial fraud.
Meanwhile, the UK regulator found that the company’s platforms were involved in 54% of all payment fraud losses in 2023: more than all other social platforms combined.
Profit vs. Police
According to Reuters, internal strategic documents show that Meta’s management weighed the costs of fighting fraud against the potential financial losses. For context, the 2025 filing notes that the company aims to reduce its fraudulent ad revenue from 10.1% in 2024 to 7.3% by the end of 2025 and further to 6% by 2026.
However, Meta has put up “fences” for law enforcement, prohibiting them from taking action against suspicious advertisers, which could cost the company more than 0.15% of its total revenue, or about $135 million in the first half of 2025.
“Easier to advertise scams on Meta”
Notably, an internal review in April 2025 acknowledged that “it is easier to advertise fraud on the Meta platforms than on Google.”
Other internal slides showed Meta expected regulatory fines of up to $1 billion, but believed that was less than the $3.5 billion it makes every six months from “high-risk” fraudulent advertising that impersonates brands, public figures, etc.
Personnel struggle and layoffs
Documents from 2022 and 2023 show that Meta’s focus on artificial intelligence and virtual reality projects has resulted in staff cuts in security teams, reducing resources available for fraud detection.
One internal note says that deceptive advertising was once considered a “low-severity problem”: seen mainly as a bad user experience, not a serious threat.
Meta also ignored or falsely dismissed 96% of user fraud reports in 2023, according to internal documents. Interestingly, the company later tried to reduce this indicator to 75%.
Announcements
Daily sacrifices
Reuters cited a real-life case that shows how fraudsters use Meta platforms. To explain this, hackers hijacked the Facebook account of a Royal Canadian Air Force recruiter and used it to promote a fake cryptocurrency scheme.
Despite more than 100 reports from users, it took Meta more than a month to delete the account, during which several victims lost more than $45,000.
Organic scams and policy loopholes
In addition to paid advertising, Meta users are exposed to 22 billion “organic fraud” daily, such as fake dating profiles, fake Marketplace listings, and false medical claims.
Interestingly, some of the scams flagged by the Singapore Police Force in 2024 violate the “spirit” but not the “letter” of Meta’s policy, highlighting loopholes in law enforcement.
Also, in one high-profile case, Meta employees discovered a $250,000 crypto-fraud ad pretending to be Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, but gaps in the company’s internal policies did not indicate such activity.
“The most fraudsters” and penalty rates
To draw attention to the avid violators, in early 2025 the employee began publishing a weekly internal list highlighting the “Most Cheater”: essentially, the advertiser with the most user complaints in a given week. However, Reuters found that some accounts remained active months later.
As previously mentioned, Meta has introduced “penalty bidding”: a system where suspected fraudsters pay more to show ads. Although the system was designed to deter fraud, the system also allowed Meta to profit from shady advertisers.
The big picture
Notably, Meta’s own research estimated that its platforms are involved in a third of all successful fraud in the US, making it a major player in the global fraud economy.
Yet despite constant regulatory scrutiny, the company continues to strike a fine balance between advertising revenue and enforcement: an aspect that lies at the heart of its multibillion-dollar business.
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